Deflector spoon for rotary sprinklers

ABSTRACT

A deflector spoon fitted on an end of an oscillating arm carried by a rotary sprinkler, the arm causing the spoon to move repeatedly into the water stream so as to impart a turning movement to the sprinkler; the spoon being so arranged that nozzles of a wide range of sizes may be interchanged without materially affecting the operation of the deflector spoon.

United States Patent 1 Leissner et a1.

DEFLECTOR SPOON FOR ROTARY SPRINKLERS Inventors: Paul H. Leissner; Karl A. Jansen,

both of Corona, Calif.

Assignee: Rain Bird Sprinkler Mfg. Corp,

Glendora, Calif.

Filed: I Sept. 20, 1971 Appl; N0.: 181,868

US. Cl ..239/233 Int. Cl. ..B05b 3/02 Field of Search ..239/23 1, 232, 233

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1971 Foreman ..239/233 X [451 Apr. 10, 1973 Sinex ..239/233 Halt 239/231 X Alvarez 239/233 X Ryerson 239/231 X Warren ....239/233 X Royer ..239/233 X Primary ExaminerAllen N. Knowles AtlorneyCharles G. Lyon et al.

ABSTRACT A deflector spoon fitted on an end of an oscillating arm carried by a rotary sprinkler, the arm causing the spoon to move repeatedly into the water stream so as to impart a turning movement to the sprinkler; the spoon being so arranged that nozzles of a wide range of sizes may be interchanged without materially affecting the operation of the deflector spoon.

3 Claims, 5 Figures DEFLECTOR SPOON FOR ROTARY SPRINKLERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION No. 2,380,101. Both inventions used an oscillating arm 1 which carried a deflector or spoon at one end. The spoon was caused to move repeatedly into and out of the water stream to effect rotation of the sprinkler. Today the Englehart type sprinkler whether full circle or part circle, is probably the most widely used of the rotary sprinklers. The spoon construction has remained essentially the same as that used by Englehart, as exemplified by US. Pat. Nos. 2,792,256 and 3,468,485.

This type of sprinkler has been highly successful; however, the deflector spoon as well as its oscillating arm and return spring needs to be tailored or dimensioned for reaction with a particular nozzle size or limited range of nozzle sizes as well as operating pressures; otherwise, the oscillating arm swings excessively or not enough.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a rotary sprinkler having a deflector spoon in which the deflector spoon has a restricted water deflecting surface dimensioned for engagement bya decreasing proportion of the water as the volume of the discharge from the nozzle increases, so that the resultant force causing rotation of the sprinkler tends to remain constant or to undergo inconsequential change in the oscillation of the spoon supporting arm. As a result excessive swinging or oscillation of the arm is avoided thus permitting the use of a wide range of nozzle sizes while the remaining parts of the sprinkler remain unchanged.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of a rotary sprinkler incorporating the deflector spoon.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the deflector spoon taken flow pattern.

FIG. 3 is a bottom sectional view taken through 33 of FIG. 2 and showing the water flow pattern. FIG. 4 is a side view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a nozzle tip with a bore of large size and also showing the water flow pattern.

FIG. 5 is a bottom sectional view taken through 55 of FIG. 4 and showing the water flow pattern.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT tegral part of the sprinkler body. The journal pin receives an oscillating lever 7 having a counterbalancing arm 8 and a deflector spoon arm 9 in diametrically disposed relation.

The oscillating lever 7 is urged in one direction by a spring 10 and is urged in the opposite direction by the interaction of the water striking a deflector spoon carried by the oscillating lever.

Virtually since the inception of a rotary sprinkler utilizing an oscillating arm and deflector spoon little change has been made in the shape and form of a deflector spoon. Although the manner in which the oscillating arm transmits an impact to the sprinkler has varied and reversing mechanisms have been introduced. That is, since the inception of this type of rotary sprinkler the deflector spoon has received virtually all of the water issuing from the nozzle. As a result the size of the nozzle bore, the mass of the oscillating arm, the force of the return spring and under the pressure of which the sprinkler operates are all inter-related. In order to counteract the effect of water pressure a smaller nozzle bore is used for conditions of higher water pressure. If for a given set of conditions it is desirable to increase water flow by use of a larger nozzle, the range of increase has heretofore been extremely limited for the oscillating arm will swing too far and interfere with proper progressive movement of the sprinkler body.

In place of the conventional deflector spoon, a special deflector spoon l 1 is formed integral with the oscillating lever 7 or is attached thereto. The deflector spoon includes an offset bracket portion 12- joined to the deflector spoon arm 9. Extending in a direction essentially radial with respect to the axis of the sprinkler body are radially outwardly diverging upper and lower side walls 13. Connecting the radially inner portions of the side walls 13 is an initial deflector web 14. Extending between the side walls 13 and arcuatively as well as radially offset from the web 14 is an opposed deflector web 15.

The deflector spoon thus far described is similar to the conventional deflector spoon. However, the opposed deflector web 15 of the conventionalspoon terminates in a curved deflector ridge which completely fills this space between the side walls 13 sothat all of the water issuing from the nozzle is deflected thereby when the spoon is in the water discharge path from the nozzle.

In the exercise of the present invention, the central portion of the deflector web 15 is provided with a'relatively narrow main deflector element 16 having a curved deflector face 17. The deflector element 16 is bordered by side slots 18 bounded on their remote side by the radially outer portions of the walls 13. The surfaces of the two side slots are flush with the normal surface of the deflector web 15.

The deflector spoon is urged into the water stream issuing from the nozzle tip by the spring 10. In the construction illustrated, the spoon moves and is moved by the water in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the top of the sprinkler but in a clockwise direction as viewed from the underside of the sprinkler, that is as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 5. The water stream'of jet first engages the initial deflector web 14 which draws the deflector spoon into the water stream, that is,

it urges it in the same direction as the spring, however,

the water is almost instantaneously deflected to the opposed deflector web 15. In doing so, a portion of the wateris further deflected by the main deflector element 16. This deflection is in a direction to cause a reaction on the spoon which drives'the spoon out of the water stream causing the oscillating arm 7 to swing in opposition to the spring. Energy is stored in the spring which drives the oscillating lever to return the deflector spoon into the water stream. Sufficient energy is stored in the oscillating lever as to cause it to strike the frame 6 turning the sprinkler body a slight amount before the water reaction on the main deflector element 16 again drives the deflector spoon and oscillating lever out of the water stream.

The same reaction occurs with the conventional deflector spoon and oscillating lever. However, as pointed out previously, the entire force of the water acts on the conventional deflector spoon whereas in the case of the present invention, only a portion of the water acts on the deflector element. As indicated by comparison of FIGS. 2 and 3 with FIGS. 4 and 5, FIGS.

2 and 3 show the spray pattern from a nozzle tip of smaller bore and FIGS. 4 and 5 show the spray pattern when the nozzle bore is increased in diameter.

What seems to occur is that the water jet is flattened by the initial deflector web 14 to form a spray of rectangular cross-section between the side walls 13, however, with a small bore only a small percentage of water is deflected through these side slots 18, whereas with a larger bore it seems that a larger percentage of water is divertedto the side slots 18 with a result that the volume of water actually reacting with the main deflector element 16 remains constant through a range of nozzle bore diameters. To some extent this is true when the variable is water pressure and the nozzle bore is constant.

It also seems that the opposing reaction of the deflector webs 14 and 15 tend to cancel out so that the actual force which effects oscillation of the lever 7 is confined mainly to that part of the water striking the deflector elements 16.

More particularly, in order to demonstrate the effect Of'IhC novelly constructed-diverter spoon tests were made on two types of standard sprinklers manufactured by Rain Bird Sprinkler Mfg. Corp., one was a sprinkler made of brass designated No. 30W, the other designated 14600 wasmade principally of plastic parts. Both sprinklers including the deflector spoon were, constructed essentially as illustrated in Flg. 1 except that the main deflecting element 16 was continuous between the side walls 13. These are referred to in the following charts as Std. Unslotted. A second pair of spoons, one formed of brass, the other of plastic material was provided with the slots 18 at either side of the main deflecting element 16. These are referred to in the following charts as slotted.

- Considering the brass sprinkler No. 30W, the sprinkler was operated at a water pressure of 55 Psi. A set of nozzle tips having bores as indicated in the following Chart A were used as a measure of the deflecting force, the angular excursion of the oscillating lever 7 was measured in degrees.

Chart A:

No. 30W Sprinkler Std. Unslotted Slotted 9/32 134 1/4 130 85 7/32 120 85 9/64 50 40 Considering the plastic sprinkler 14600,.this sprinkler was operated at a water pressure 'of 80 psi, but otherwise under the same conditions as sprinkler No. 30W, as indicated in Chart B.

Chart B:

14600 Sprinkler Std. Unslotted Slotted 9/32 1 15 45 It will be seen from Charts A and B that, except for I the smallest nozzle, the swing of the oscillating arm was constant when a deflector spoon involving the present invention was used, whereas, the swing of the oscillating arm increased with increased nozzle bore.

While a particular embodimentof this invention has been shown and described, it is not intended to limit the same to the details of the construction set forth, but instead, the invention embraces such changes, modifications and equivalents of the various parts and their relationships as come within the purview of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A deflector spoon for rotary sprinklers, having a nozzle branch adapted to receive selectively a set of nozzle tips having a preselected range of bore diameters, and an oscillating arm, said deflector spoon comprising:

a. a main deflector element;

b. means supporting the deflector element on the oscillating arm for repeated movement therewith ,into and out of a water stream issuing from the nozzle tip;

. the main deflector element having directing means for directing water from said nozzle along a path of predetermined width, and a deflector surface portion in said path, of fixed width less than that of said path and an effective water deflecting area less than the area of the stream issuing from. any

selected noule tip of the set whereby the quantity of water impinging on said deflector surface is substantially constant irrespective of the bore size of the selected nozzle tip, and the deflecting force reacting from said deflector surface tends to remain constant.

2. A deflector spoon for rotary sprinklers as defined in claim 1, wherein:

a. an initial deflector web carried by the supporting means is interposed between the nozzle tip and the main deflector element for flattening the stream of water and directing the water stream into said path. I

3. A deflector spoon for rotary sprinklers as defined 60 in claim 2, wherein:

side walls bordering opposite sides of the main deflector element.

t l i 

1. A deflector spoon for rotary sprinklers, having a nozzle branch adapted to receive selectively a set of nozzle tips having a preselected range of bore diameters, and an oscillating arm, said deflector spoon comprising: a. a main deflector element; b. means supporting the deflector element on the oscillating arm for repeated movement therewith into and out of a water stream issuing from the nozzle tip; c. the main deflector element having directing means for directing water from said nozzle along a path of predetermined width, and a deflector surface portion in said path, of fixed width less than that of said path and an effective water deflecting area less than the area of the stream issuing from any selected nozzle tip of the set whereby the quantity of water impinging on said deflector surface is substantially constant irrespective of the bore size of the selected nozzle tip, and the deflecting force reacting from said deflector surface tends to remain constant.
 2. A deflector spoon for rotary sprinklers as defined in claim 1, wherein: a. an initial deflector web carried by the supporting means is interposed between the nozzle tip and the main deflector element for flattening the stream of water and directing the water stream into said path.
 3. A deflector spoon for rotary sprinklers as defined in claim 2, wherein: a. said directing means includes a pair of diverging side walls bordering opposite sides of the main deflector element. 